Pregnancy of Sarah Palin's daughter shakes up McCain campaign

By Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

ST. PAUL, MINN. -- Republicans swung into damage control Monday as their scaled-back convention was overtaken by news that the unmarried teenage daughter of vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin was five months pregnant.

The revelation introduced a highly personal and unpredictable element into a presidential campaign already steeped in gender politics.

In a statement released hours before the convention opened, Palin and her husband, Todd, did not say when their daughter Bristol, 17, told them of her pregnancy. Bristol intends to marry the father, the statement said -- a move that drew widespread praise from religious leaders and convention delegates.

Pregnancy of Sarah Palin's daughter shakes up McCain campaign....